Regional

8:31 pm

Mon December 13, 2010

NMERB Narrows Retirement Proposals To Four

Las Cruces, NM – Representatives from the board met with concerned employees at NMSU. The meeting comes after a postponed vote on the final change proposal. NMERB chairman Mary Lou Cameron stated in a press release that the board needed more time to review proposal effects and give members the opportunity to provide input.

NMERB Executive Director, Jan Goodwin outlined the four final proposals the board has decided on. The proposals don't differ greatly on the normal retirement eligibility, but the member contribution rate for all proposals increases to around the nine point four to nine point nine percent range from the current seven point nine percent rate.

Goodwin says there are several reasons for the need to revise the plans.

Goodwin-"So what we had earlier in the decade was a large increase in salaries, more and more people collecting retirement and we got hit hard with the 200 meltdown and the 2008 2009 meltdown on the investment side. So what this has done is we have seen another dramatic increase also in our unfunded liability, it now stands and 4.9 billion dollars."

She also says if the state stays with the present level of contributions and similar plan design, by 2040 there would be an unfunded liability of seventeen billion dollars.

The four proposals were narrowed down from a pool of around twenty at a meeting last week. A special board meeting has been scheduled for December 17th to decide on the final proposal to present to the legislature for a vote. For a list and outline of the four final proposals go to nmerb.org.